Possible algae growth in drinking water- help!

ruicosta10

Hi,

For a few years now whenever I haven't had any bottled water around I drink from the tap, naturally. However, I've regretted that most of the time, as I usually get a very mild stomach ache after it, sometimes worse... I filled up a bottle the other day and forgot about it, when I saw it the next day it seemed to be filled with little bits of floating algae!! Now, I'm on mains water in Killiney (Dublin), so I don't know what's up here. Maybe the incoming pipes are infected or something? Anybody with any experience of something like this and what to do about it?

Sir Random

Have you told the county council about this? It's unlikely to be a problem with the mains supply, or it would affect everyone in your area. Maybe you have a leak on the underground feed into your house?

flocker

Depends where the tap is connected to.
Usually the mains is connected to the kitchen sink and then goes to the storage tank in the roofspace. The cold taps in any bathrooms/ensuite are then fed from the storage tank.

If you are getting this water from the kitchen sink or the first tap on the incoming main l would ring the council.

If it's a tap from elsewhere in the house check your storage tank.

ruicosta10

The thing is, the water will originally look clear, only after being bottled up for a bit will it display the floaty stuff... I dealt with the council before about this problem, and they just tell me to boil the water. That is really not what I want to hear off them, they don't seem to be bothered really. The water is drawn from the main, not any attic tank or anything. I suppose I could attempt to try my luck with the council again, but what would they realistically do for me?

The Hill Billy

Ask your neighbours if they are experiencing the same problem.
(Assuming that they are on the mains too.)
Get back onto the council & don't take any guff from them.

sakigrant

If you want to look at your water properly you could consider taking a sample and putting it into a lab. They can then test for e-coli, salmonella, Staph aureaus, listeria, TVC. It wouldn't be prohibitively expensive, 40 or 50 euros and at least it would give you ammunition to then talk to the council. If your neighbours are having similar problems you could chip in. We had a number of problems with the water supply and I took a sample which showed high levels of coliforms - the council then had to deal with the problem.

If you do decide to go down this route get your Golden Pages out and find an accredited lab, they will be able to provide you with a sterile bottle and let you know how to take the sample. Hope that's of some help.

311

I done a job a while ago in a house where I had to change all the pipework .
I told the people I would be replacing the tank ,and that the tank water would be turned off.

A while later they asked me why the mains water was also off, it wasn't I replied.

They had been drinking water from a galvanized tank their whole life and didn't know.


To check this ,turn the mains off outside ,with a waterkey if possible ,make sure it's connected to the right pipework.

brian.

Pocari Sweat

Water left in bottles and tanks will go off after a while.

Bacteria exists everywhere in small doses and multiplies when not flowing.


Mains water is chlorinated mildly and it does the job, but free chlorine evaporates when sitting in tanks and if this is fed to a tap that might be drunk from, there is some risk.

Birds and mice in attics might also shyte into tanks, and you could drink this.

If getting accurate laboratory analysis, pay around 25 euros for a full bacterial lab test.

Get half litre sterile bottle from the lab, and when taking sample let the tap run for over 5 minutes then fill bottle till it is overflowing.

Seal on cap an return sample within 2 hours, late in the morning to the lab for them to do immediate test to get an accurate result.

E.coli is an indicator pathogen, basically not the worst, but if it is present it means there could be the indication of a "path way" for other more harmful bacteria such as faecal strep and clostridia, or worse like legionella and cryptosporidium.

All give bad tummys and shiits. But legionella has a higher kill rate.

A lot of bacteria you can get immune to in high doses if taken regularly like e.coli. Also to complicate things there are dozens of popular strains of e.coli and other bacterias. e.coli 148, e.coli 157 etc.

Get advice off the lab when sample tested, they generally know what they are up to.